


Undocumented Alien

by TheQuantumQueer



Category: Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27251107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQuantumQueer/pseuds/TheQuantumQueer
Summary: Superman goes through customs.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

The customs desk was unusually quiet for a monday morning, especially given how full the line was, but Danny Simmons didn’t mind. Honestly, he wouldn’t even have noticed, if it hadn’t been for the fact that it meant his work was unexpectedly gentle on his splitting hangover. Danny didn’t particularly like his job, but it paid well and was easy. All he had to do was sit at a desk in the airport and ask everyone who came down the ramp a few questions while he verified their travel papers. There was an ugly side to the CBP, he knew, but he didn’t have anything to do with that. Not really, anyway. If there was a problem with someone’s papers or story, he just called a supervisor over and then it was out of his hands.

Danny stamped the passport of an old woman who had just returned from visiting her son in Venice. “Next,” he called, and lowered his head to rub his temples for a moment. He didn’t look up immediately when the next traveler reached his desk, taking another moment to try to massage the hangover away as he asked what appeared from the corner of his eye to be a large man in a blue graphic tee how his flight had been.

“Very pleasant, thank you,” said the man in a voice that was frustratingly familiar even though Danny couldn’t immediately place it. “Rough night, I take it?”

Danny laughed a bit, and grimaced in pain as the action split his head all over again. “Yeah you could say that. Passport please.”

“I don’t have one.”

Danny froze, his head still in his hands. Normally when there was a problem with someone’s papers, they would say and do anything at all that they thought would buy his sympathy enough to let it slide, usually with a “just this once” or something about “my family.” Whoever this man was, he was openly and deliberately flaunting the fact that he was trying to enter the country illegally. This man had larger intentions, and that made Danny’s blood run cold.

Danny slowly looked up and realized all at once why customs had been so quiet today. Everyone but him had known this moment was coming, and they were all waiting with bated breath to see what would happen. The travelers had been quiet hoping to hear what was said. His coworkers had been quiet hoping the man would end up in someone else’s lane. His lane. All eyes were on him, both in this room and around the world. Danny didn’t know what to do, and felt himself slip away to the back of his own mind as his training took over.

“Right,” he heard his own voice say. “Where are you coming from today?”

“A private island in the arctic circle. It doesn’t have a name.”

“Are you here on business or pleasure?”

“Strictly business, unfortunately.”

“And what business do you have in the United States today?”

“With any luck, a meeting with the president.”

“And you say you don’t have a passport?”

“That’s correct.”

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to wait here.”

And then Danny Simmons watched himself call _la Migra_ on Superman.


	2. Chapter 2

# Man of Steel Caged

####  _By Lois Lane_

Superman surrendered himself to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforfement (ICE) yesterday in an act of protest against the president's immigration policies. He was taken into custody after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport and attempting to enter through Customs, when he revealed that he does not have a passport. As many readers are no doubt aware, Superman is originally fom the now-destroyed planet Krypton and lives on an island in the arctic that is not claimed by any government. He has previously and consistently declined offers of citizenship from several of Earth's governments, including the United States, insisting that all the people of Earth are under his protection and that he does not want there to be any appearance of favoritism or partisanship on his part.

A source within ICE revealed that under interrogation, Superman made no effort to conceal his lengthy history of entering the United States illegally, and freely admitted to crossing the border without checking in with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) "a few thousand times" over the twenty-five years since he first arrived on Earth. He likewise made no secret of the fact that, as he gave his profession as "hero," the vast majority of these entrances were for the sole and explicit purpose of working without a visa.

According to the same source, ICE agents were issued handcuffs and batons plated with Kryptonite, a substance from Superman's home planet that renders him powerless and vulnerable. Several agents struck him while in transit, apparently just to see if their weapons worked, before handing him off to similarly-equipped CBP agents at the Frederick County Detention Center in Maryland.

The vast majority of Superman's fellow detainees spend months in cramped conditions with no clean water or medical care, waiting for a hearing in which they are not entitled to legal representation, but Superman's case was given priority and his hearing was the same day as his arrest. He was represented pro-bono by Richard Grayson, senior partner at the law firm Cranston and Grayson, who gave the following comment:

> My client has expressed a desire to be treated no differently from any other detainee. In keeping with his wishes, my primary role in this case is to speak to the press on his behalf. For the same reason, he spoke only his native Kryptonian during the hearing, and will continue to do so in all official matters. Despite his request for a lack of leniency and the unprecedented scope of his violations, which he does not contest, he has been given preferential treatment in nearly every way.

The response on social media has been extreme, with disagreements quickly escalating to threats of violence. A majority of conservative figures have taken the position that Superman should have been locked up as an illegal immigrant decades ago, while the political center worries that he is endangering us by allowing himself to be detained. Many on the left, however, have rallied behind his protest, taking to the streets in solidarity as #SupermanStrike trends on Twitter.

Similarly divided is the public opinion on one Daniel Simmons, the CBP agent to whom Superman initially presented himself. The internet is referring to him alternately as a "bootlicker," a "Good German" (Simmons' family is Dutch; the phrase likely refers to German citizens who were not affiliated with the Nazi government but nonetheless complied with its commands), and "the real hero here," with one small contingent likening him to the biblical Judas, arguing that taking Superman into custody was both indefensible and necessary. When reached for comment, Simmons had only this to say:

> "My crime has been complacency. Not anymore."

Simmons' supervisor confirmed that he quit his job mere moments after Superman was taken away.


End file.
